


It Involves Fire

by fishisinlimbo



Series: Silver Wolf [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Animal Shifters, Best Friends, Gen, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Small Towns, Wolf Pack, Wolf Shifters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishisinlimbo/pseuds/fishisinlimbo
Summary: Best friends Lukas and Dakota are just hanging out together, egging a house in the dead of night in their small wolf-shifter town in the mountains.  Just things that best friends do together!
Relationships: Lukas Sterling & Dakota Harris
Series: Silver Wolf [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000932
Kudos: 2





	It Involves Fire

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short introduction of my characters for a book I'm writing, and my first public post of my literary works. Please let me know what you guys think, especially technically, or if you have any questions about the characters themselves! Thank you so much for reading, and I look forward to posting more for you all in the future!

“Good Spirits, Lukas, aren’t you bored of hunting by now? You’ve only been doing it  _ aaalll daayyy _ …” Dakota exaggerated her exasperation, rolling her eyes at the man in front of her. He  _ had _ already turned in two white-tailed bucks to the butcher shop in town, and she’d just caught him heading back out. She liked hunting herself, but she really just wasn’t feeling up to it just now. She had other ideas in mind.

Lukas shifted his weight as his eyes - or rather just the one lavender eye - made its way slowly over to meet hers. The milky white eye moved, but it was hard to tell the white from the fogged-over iris and pupil. She’d seen him do this before. It was a rather familiar look on Lukas. His own exasperation was always made clear when he realized she was up to something. That look made her grin all the more. It was so much fun to play with him like this, especially when she knew he’d go along with her anyway.

“I have a solution,” she urged, moving a piece of her black bangs from her eyes with a finger.

“Oh thank the Wolf,” he replied sarcastically, his gaze drifting away with the roll of his eyes.

“It involves fire.” She could barely suppress the giggle. His eye darted back to her, anger flaring behind it.

“Absolutely not.” His voice was so stern that she couldn’t hold it anymore and she burst out laughing. Lukas turned his whole body to face her, crossing his arms over his broad chest. But his posture relaxed, likely because he knew that she wasn’t serious, at least about the fire.

“I’ve always wanted to say that,” Dakota finally got out between residual giggles. Lukas relaxed further, but his arms stayed crossed.

“Say what you mean.” His voice was still firm and stern, but Dakota could see a smile creeping up one corner of his mouth. It was something they shared between them. The two of them had walls up for the rest of the town, but had only let them down between themselves. Lukas was not one to mince words or dance around meanings. So he urged Dakota to ‘say what she meant’ so that the two of them could communicate. And she was the only one in the town, or so he told her, that would actually say what she meant. Everyone else was just too polite.

“You’re no fun,” she pouted, but she complied. “Wanna go egg Naomi’s house?”

Lukas furrowed his eyebrows. “Isn’t she your cousin or something?” Dakota couldn’t help but laugh again.

“Yeah, so?” she grinned up at Lukas, shoving her hands into the zippered pockets of her pants. “Come on, it’s almost nightfall. If we go right now, we can still get eggs from the market before it closes.” She watched Lukas roll his eyes. Here comes the runaround. ‘Dakota, you shouldn’t be egging houses.’ ‘Dakota, you should come hunting with me instead, it’s more productive.’ ‘Dakota, those eggs aren’t meant to be thrown. You should try eating them some time.’

“Sure.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun! We haven’t done anything like this in a while; it’ll be a good stress relief. Please?” She did a double take. “Wait, what?” That smile crept just a little further up the corners of Lukas’s mouth.

“I said sure. You’re right, we haven’t hung out in a while. Let’s go.” Dakota grinned widely and then shifted forms to run around the clearing where they were, just beyond the town limits but not quite into the forest, as a lithe black wolf, yipping excitedly. Lukas rolled his eyes again, but he was smiling this time, and his arms uncrossed as he relaxed.

“We’re going to miss the market if you don’t hurry up,” he chided playfully, starting to walk back toward the town. Dakota yipped and trotted ahead before shifting back into a girl, laughing ecstatically as she acquired a human mouth once more.

Lukas had been so serious, so caught up in training lately. He was determined to learn how to fight with his new blindspot, his newly injured and cataract right eye, after the hyena had attacked him. Dakota had helped him a little, so they’d been together here and there, but they hadn’t  _ hung out _ in a while. Adventures seemed so flat when Lukas wasn’t with her, even if his morals and grounding tended to get on her nerves sometimes. Even if his bright white hair or white wolf fur stuck out in the moonlight. Thanks, Moon spirit.

“They’re really pushing you lately?” Dakota asked, breaking the silence that had formed between them as they reentered the town. “The alphas, I mean.” Lukas put his hands in his pockets, his eyes on the road in front of his feet. By ‘the alphas,’ Dakota was talking about the leaders of their little mountain town, and the pair that happened to also be Lukas’s adoptive parents and mentors.

“Yeah, Jed wants me to have the blind spot figured out by the end of the month… But it’s basically changing everything I’ve built on for the past five or six years. At least in the wolf form, I have better hearing, but it’s been a struggle in human form.”

“Maybe your hearing will improve in this form to compensate for the loss of another sense?” Dakota offered, and she saw Lukas smile softly in the dim moonlight.

“Yeah, maybe.” He looked over at her. “I can only keep training and keep trying, right?” She smiled and nodded encouragingly.

“And if you ever need anyone to attack your right side, I’m here for you,” she prodded, grinning and laughing slightly. Lukas laughed, and it sounded genuine.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” he chuckled as he nudged her with his elbow.

They’d arrived at the market, just as it was starting to close down. The vendors wouldn’t leave for another half hour or so, but they were all starting to pack up their foods in preparation to transport it back to their homes or cold storage. Lukas and Dakota bought three dozen eggs between them, and Dakota knew that if they didn’t throw them all, though unlikely, Lukas would eat the rest. They were careful not to drop them on their way up the hill, on the opposite side of the town that they’d come in on. Naomi’s house wasn’t far, but they were trying also to waste the remaining rays of sunlight as the sky darkened minute by minute. The sun had long since set, but the twilight hadn’t quite left yet.

“So what did this cousin Naomi do to earn her house egged?” Lukas asked. They’d stopped walking and were currently sitting at the park near Naomi’s house, waiting for nightfall.

“She said something mean about black wolves or white wolves or something,” Dakota responded nonchalantly. In truth, Naomi hadn’t said anything mean to merit her house getting egged in the middle of the night, and normally Dakota held back from “punishing” anyone who hadn’t done or said anything wrong, but she had wanted some time with Lukas so badly… And besides, it wasn’t like Naomi and Dakota got along anyway. Maybe her cousin deserved it regardless of if she’d said mean things about Dakota or her best friend.

And Lukas must have picked up on Dakota’s lie, for his face got serious for a moment as though he wanted to lecture Dakota about unmerited pranks. Instead, though, he just laughed softly and looked back at the eggs they’d bought, examining one of them.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” he said quietly, as though to the egg. Dakota relaxed, looking up at the sky. These times where Lukas didn’t lecture her were few and far between. The urge to ruin the moment was tugging very strongly at Dakota.

Before she could, however, Lukas stood from the bench, an egg in his hand. She watched as he pulled his right arm back, his eyes locked on something in front of him. He stayed like that for a second, and then two, and then several, before his arm sprang forward and his hand released the egg. It flew straight and forward; his release was perfect. And then it smacked into the side of a nearby tree, just off to Lukas’s right side a bit. Dakota could tell by the way his eye crinkled and his brow furrowed that that wasn’t quite where he was aiming.

“Great, now we have one less egg for Naomi,” Dakota complained sarcastically as Lukas sat back down. He was still eyeing the remnants of the egg dripping down the side of the tree.

“Depth perception still needs work too,” Lukas muttered, probably more to himself. Dakota stood up, holding her case of eggs.

“Fine, let’s go practice on Naomi’s house then!” She had to keep from jumping up and down for fear she’d lose some eggs. And honestly, for being as selfish and pushy as she was, Lukas was playing along quite a bit. She saw the corners of his mouth lift slightly as he looked up at her. She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you’re so one-minded sometimes! If you want to throw eggs at a moving target then we can buy some more tomorrow and I’ll dodge your inaccurate throws all day. But come  _ on _ , it’s after nightfall, we have a house waiting for us!”

“Maybe I’ll let you take down the poor doe that comes wandering in to lick the egg off the tree in the morning,” Lukas joked, standing with his own eggs in hand to walk with her.

“ _ Let _ me?” Dakota let out a loud laugh. “You think you’ll beat me to it?” She shoved him sideways with her shoulder against his. She walked on his left side only now, so that he could see her without having to turn his head. And of course, he shoved her back, with a much stronger shoulder push than she herself was capable of, especially with eggs in their hands. She squealed and laughed, regaining her place next to him as they made the rest of the short walk.

As they approached the house, Lukas slowed down and hung a couple steps behind Dakota. She looked back at him and he gave her a small encouraging smile. The lights were all out inside the house already. Dakota felt a grin spread across her face as she set down the case of eggs, grabbing one before standing back up and pulling her arm back, aiming her throw carefully so as to not hit any windows. Then she let the egg fly, grinning wider as she heard a satisfying smack as it hit the siding of the house, between the first and second floor.

Dakota heard soft claps behind her and turned to see Lukas smiling too as he gave her quiet applause. His small praise gave rise to more pride inside her and she gestured for him to throw one. They each picked up an egg and Dakota waited and watched as Lukas lined up, his right arm back, his left arm pointing forward. He was aiming more toward the side of the house, well away from windows just in case he missed again. And then his arm sprang forward and his egg flew, straight and sure, with even less of an arc than hers had, and landed exactly where Dakota had thought Lukas had aimed. Lukas grimaced, though, and Dakota furrowed her eyebrows.

“Come on, that was perfect,” Dakota insisted quietly. Lukas looked over at her and smiled slightly, as though he disagreed but was playing along, and he looked glad for her compliment at least.

“You’ll see just how off my aim is tomorrow when I’m throwing eggs at you,” he prodded as Dakota threw her egg, hitting close to her original mark.

“Y’know, maybe I prefer that after all,” she said, laughing and watching Lukas throw again. He didn’t grimace after his second egg hit its mark, but she knew he was still beating himself up. “You always were useless throwing a knife anyway. Just depend on your teeth and claws like the rest of us.”

“Right, but that doesn’t change that my depth perception is off. I can’t fight accurately like this.” 

“All you need is to be able to land blows, right?” Dakota asked. “As long as you’re taking them down? You just need to compensate for the right eye and then you’ll be much more competent than even the best of the fighters.” Lukas just grunted. They each took turns throwing eggs, until one of them accidentally hit a window, and Dakota saw one of the lights turn on inside. She giggled quietly.

“Time to go,” she said through laughter, and the two of them gathered up what was left of their eggs and bolted down the road. Through her own laughter, she thought she heard Lukas laughing quietly too. The faint sound made her grin and laugh more. This was what life and adventure was all about. These moments were what made it all worth it.

After reaching the park again, they both stopped and put the eggs down. They were both panting, though she was breathing harder than the well-trained Lukas. She heard remnants of laughter from both of them. They had about 15 eggs between the two of them left, which was more than Dakota thought they’d have left, but considering they’d left twenty eggs on Naomi’s house, it seemed about fair.

The night had descended around them in the time they’d been talking and throwing eggs, and the dim moon didn’t do much for lighting up the dark mountain sky, though it did just fine with Lukas’s silvery-white hair. They took their time getting back to their side of town. Dakota had consolidated all of their eggs into one case to make it easier to carry. Lukas would probably finish them within the week even if he didn’t throw them at Dakota for training, but at least now he could store them in his refrigerator more easily.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked him after another moment of them walking in silence. “The blind spot again? The attack?”

“...Yeah,” he answered after a moment.

“You won the fight,” she reminded him. “You changed his life more than he changed yours.” Which was, to say, that Lukas had ended the hyena’s life, even if the hyena had gotten a critical slash on Lukas before he had taken the animal down.

“That doesn’t change what I have to deal with now,” Lukas said, shaking his head. “I’ve seen how people look at me now. They all have pity in their eyes. They all see weakness in me now.” There it was. The paranoia Lukas sported that the townspeople were constantly judging him, like they even cared at all just how strong he was, or that he could defend the town singlehandedly. But that was what Lukas cared about, so he projected that on everyone else.

“That’s concern you’re seeing, Lukas,” Dakota sighed. “You got seriously injured and have only just healed. People have been worried about you.” Lukas shook his head again. “Listen,” she stated, “if someone says anything to you like that, about weakness or whatever, let me know and we can egg  _ their _ house.”

“Nobody’s going to tell me anything like that to my face,” Lukas retorted. “They’re all too polite to talk like that in front of me. But you know they’re all talking about it behind my back.” Dakota furrowed her eyebrows.

“No, they’re  _ not _ . The few people who even know about the attack, let alone your injury and recovery, I  _ promise _ , are not talking about your  _ weakness. _ ” Lukas shot her a look but she continued. “They’re talking about your strength, Lukas. How you fought and took down the animal even despite your injury and new blind spot. How you’re not giving up on training and even  _ doubling down _ in order to surpass your current limits and your new handicap.” Lukas looked away with a roll of his eyes. 

“That’s just what people want you to hear, because you’re friends with me and because of your reputation.” She knew that Lukas wouldn’t likely accept her reality -  _ the _ reality, but he said no more on the subject. Instead, when he spoke up again, it was in a softer, much more hesitant tone.

“What…  _ are _ … you doing tomorrow…?” It was such a simple question but it made Dakota furrow her eyebrows. 

“I don’t know yet,” she replied, almost as hesitantly. “Why?”

“I just… was wondering.” He wouldn’t look at her, but was keeping his gaze straight forward. His hands were in his pockets. Dakota’s eyebrows furrowed further.

“Say what you mean.” This runaround wasn’t like him.

He sighed, sounding exasperated. “I would… like it… if you were to… come help me train tomorrow.” The last few words were almost too soft for her to hear. But a smile crept up her face. He wasn’t used to asking. Either she just showed up or one of the alphas would ask her to step in if they had business to attend to. Usually, it was the former. 

Her grin spread wider. “Of course I’ll come attack your right side tomorrow. You won’t even see me coming.” She couldn’t keep the laughter in, and had to stop walking when Lukas shot her a look so stern that she burst out laughing even harder and louder. Despite the stern look that reprimanded her for her joke without a word, Lukas’s posture relaxed, and Dakota even saw the beginnings of a smile creep up his cheeks. Dakota flung herself over his shoulders, laughing still even as he shrugged her off.

“I’ll be able to smell you from a mile away because you’re such a stinker,” he retorted, his voice still soft but the grin spreading. He pushed her with his elbow and it was hard enough that she stumbled to the other side of the road they were walking along, but she came back with momentum and pushed him back. They were both laughing now, and loudly enough that it earned them a couple of the townspeople opening windows to yell down at them, but Dakota didn’t care. Laughing with Lukas made for the best end to a good day.


End file.
